


4 a.m.

by plskashootme



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean Winchester Has Nightmares, Dean Winchester Has a Crush on Castiel, Hell Trauma, Insomniac Dean Winchester, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Purgatory Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-11 04:48:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18423132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plskashootme/pseuds/plskashootme
Summary: Dean has nightmares. Everyone knows. With what he's been through, there's no way he wouldn't. Castiel finds out and helps get rid of them, but there's a catch.





	4 a.m.

It’s nearly four in the morning when Castiel hears movement in the kitchen.  _ Sam? _ He thinks. Then there’s a muffled  _ ‘sunova bitch’ _ .  _ Dean. _ The angel pulls himself from where he sat at the table in the bunker’s library and shuffles into the kitchen, frowning and tilting his head as he looks at the exhausted, but, somehow, energetic hunter.

“Dean?” Castiel’s voice is gruff, concerned, as always.

Dean doesn’t turn for a moment, making himself a cup of coffee in his  _ ‘Biggerson’s’ _ mug before leaning against the island counter and taking a long drink as his eyes slowly open and focus on the worried angel a few feet in front of him.

“What’re you doing up, Cas?” He murmurs to the rim of his cup before he remembers, “Oh, right, angel…” He shakes his head absently before sighing heavily and turning around to sift for something in the cupboard.

Castiel’s head tilts more and his brows knit together as he watches Dean with curiosity and worry. “Dean, you look especially tired. You need more sleep, not coffee.”

“Eh, I’ll be fine. I’ve gone my whole life with about four hours of sleep,” he shrugged, shutting a cupboard before making his way to the medicine cabinet across the room and sifting through it before pulling out a small unmarked bottle of pills. He reads the scribbled label before opening it and taking two, downing them with his coffee before he sits at the kitchen table.

Castiel sits across from him, still watching him intently, not even stopping when the hunter looked up and caught him watching. His green eyes looked tired, droopy and dark; holding every melancholy memory, every piece of self-doubt, every person he thinks he ever wronged. The angel reaches over and gently places his hand over Dean’s.

“Cas, what are you…” Dean starts but can’t finish. He’s too friggen tired to deny any of this, too tired to do anything. He looks up from where their hands join to meet the angel’s crystal blue eyes, the kind eyes he’s gotten lost in so many times before. And those lips… the number of times Dean’s caught staring at them alone…

“Dean, you need sleep.” Castiel’s gruff voice breaks Dean from his thoughts, forcing him to listen instead of zone out thinking about the other’s eyes and lips like usual.

The hunter shrugs. “I’m used to it, I’ll be-”

“ _ Dean _ . You aren’t in your twenties anymore. You are nearly forty-three years old, you can’t keep sleeping only four hours every night, it will kill you eventually.” Dean blinks and looks down at their hands, squeezing Castiel’s gently.

“It’s not that I’m used to it… it’s the nightmares, Cas. Of John, Hell, Purgatory, Boby dying, Sam… S-Sam dying so many times…  _ you _ dying… It’s too much, so I rarely sleep for over four hours anymore. It’s just better that way.”

Castiel’s heart breaks for Dean, chest tightening. He stands, taking Dean’s hand and setting the coffee cup aside, “I can fix that,” he whispers, and for half a second Dean thinks the angel might kiss him, but that thought’s quickly brushed off as Cas holds Dean’s hand and leads the hunter back to his own bed.

“Cas, what-”

“Shh… lay down.” Castiel urges as the hunter obeys and crawls into the bed, laying back and watching Cas curiously. “Relax.” Slowly, Castiel presses two fingers on Dean’s temple, the nightmares that have woken him up in the last week disappearing. “I can remove your nightmares, but I need to touch you while you sleep.”

Dean chuckles. “Where’s my rape whistle?” Seeing Castiel’s worried expression, he shook his head. “It’s a joke, Cas. Just lay in the bed with me. It’ll probably calm me, anyway. And if it gets rid of my nightmares… it’s worth it.”

“Oh…” Castiel doesn’t know how to respond to that, so he moves to crawl into the bed beside Dean.

“Ah-ah-ah~” Dean nudges the angel back until he’s standing in front of the edge of the bed once more. Castiel looks thoroughly confused, so Dean stands and gently pushes the trench coat off his shoulders and lays it over the back of the desk chair nearby. He then pulls off Castiel’s suit jacket, and helps him undo the tie, “If you’re gonna be in bed with me, you need different clothing.” He explains as he walks over to his dresser and pulls out an old, ratty Led Zeppelin tee and black and white flannel pajama pants before handing them to Cas.

“Dean, I don’t understand. My other clothes were perfectly fine-”

“Cas, you remember being human, right?” Castiel nods. “Okay, and you remember how much more comfortable it felt when you were  _ not _ wearing those clothes to bed?” He nods again. “Okay, then don’t argue, change clothes, and climb in.”

Dean chuckles a bit at the slightly confused look still on the other’s face before Castiel steps aside and changes before joining the hunter in the bed, laying behind him with Dean’s back against Castiel’s chest. Dean lifts his shirt just the slightest bit and reaches back, takes Castiel’s hands, and rests them on his abs.

It isn’t long before Dean’s lulled back to sleep by the steady heartbeat of the angel behind him, and the warm hands on his skin. Not to mention the lack of nightmares.

It’s a change, sleeping without the nightmares. Without the screams and cries and  _ pleads _ from the people he couldn’t save. It’s a change he’s happy to embrace with Castiel beside him.


End file.
